LOS ANGELES–Rubicon Project (NYSE: RUBI), the Global Exchange for advertising, today released a white paper endorsing the use of open source wrapper Prebid.js in the ever-evolving world of header bidding. The paper, titled Why Open Source Will Win Header Bidding, argues for industry-wide acceptance and utilization of an open source wrapper because of non-proprietary nature. Header bidder ‘wrappers’ are JavaScript containers on the client’s web page that are responsible for requesting bids from multiple sources simultaneously.

In its white paper, Rubicon Project articulates that proprietary wrappers may undermine the growth and monetization opportunities of both publishers and the ad tech ecosystem as a whole due to the implicit limited nature of these wrappers and their owners. Not only do proprietary wrappers pose conflicts of interest resulting in unintelligent inventory allocation, but they lock in publishers, lack crowd-sourced checks and balances, and prevent publishers from taking full advantage of the industry’s collective learnings over time. They also require significant development time for updates, which naturally prioritizes the owning entity’s exchange, ultimately compromising publisher revenue potential.

“Header bidding should increase publisher revenue and provide a more equitable and transparent environment — that was its primary intent. Unfortunately, many proprietary wrappers and “black box” server-side systems have actually undermined these key principles of accessibility, competition, and efficiency,” said Tom Kershaw, Chief Technology Officer, Rubicon Project. “It is critical to the long-term success of buyers and sellers that we work as a community and develop an industry-first approach to open, standardized implementations of both client and server-side header bidding.”

The whitepaper details that the solution resides in the open source header bidding wrapper Prebid.js — a 100% free and open source header bidding wrapper that is inherently neutral, adaptable, and transparent to all industry players. The open source solution is constantly updated and maintained by the ad tech community, enabling its rapid evolution alongside industry advancements. Many publishers have already recognized the power of the open source solution. Over 75% of Rubicon Project’s premium publishers that currently utilize a header bidding wrapper have chosen Prebid.js.